1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a process for sucking out and drying the cavities of coated microtiter plates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Non-bonded or non-specifically bonded reagents on coated microtiter plates are removed by washing with buffer solutions which sometimes contain detergents. The wash liquids are removed via suction heads, and the titer plates are dried by means of a turbo dryer in a second step. In this procedure, turbulent compressed air flows into the cavity via a jet. The highly turbulent droplets are sucked up with a cannula. The disadvantages of this process are the discontinuous nature of this procedure, pollution of the environment with aerosols, and the fact that microdrops remain on the wall of the cavity, and can no longer be removed from the wall even by increasing the amount and speed of air. This residual moisture must be reduced to a relative atmospheric humidity of &lt;10% using drying agents, for example silica gel, in the sealed microtiter plate, in order to guarantee the storage stability of the coating. Thus, in the related art, microtiter plate drying requires a two-step process.